POTD: High Standard Sentinel Mk II – A Dan Wesson in Disguise

Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have a High Standard Sentinel Mk II with a set of spare barrels, and despite the name on the side, this is really a Dan Wesson.

The original Sentinel was a whole different animal. High Standard introduced it in 1955 as a nine shot 22 wheelgun that Sears had asked for, and Harry Sefried worked on the design before he left for Ruger in 1959. By the 1970s High Standard wanted a centerfire wheelgun without building one from scratch, so from about 1973 into early 1975 it sold rebadged Dan Wesson 357 Magnums as the Sentinel Mk II.

Dan Wesson II spent 25 years at Smith & Wesson before starting Dan Wesson Arms in 1968 in a former schoolhouse in Monson, Massachusetts. The heart of his revolver came from Karl Lewis, who had designed the Colt Trooper and refined his ideas at High Standard. Lewis came up with a thin barrel that slides inside a shroud and gets pulled into tension by a nut up front. That tension is a big reason Dan Wessons earned a name for accuracy, and it lets an owner swap barrels at the kitchen table.

This set shows it off with 6″, 3 3/4″ and 2 1/4″ barrels. For my money, that’s the best part: one revolver that can be a hunting gun, a duty gun or a carry piece depending on the day.

Most of our POTDs utilize images from our friends at Rock Island Auction Company, the premier firearms auction in the United States. Take some time to browse their current auctions – who knows, maybe you’ll find a piece of history to take home!

“High Standard Sentinel MK II Double Action Revolver.” Rock Island Auction, www.rockislandauction.com/detail/5034/1473/high-standard-sentinel-mk-ii-double-action-revolver. Accessed 29 Oct. 2026.

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